Breaking down South Dakota Prep Media football polls for Aug. 26: Avon earns unanimous No. 1 in Class 9B (2024)

MITCHELL — On the heels of a strong Week 1 showing, the Avon Pirates collected all 14 first-place votes to become the unanimous Class 9B No. 1-ranked program in this week’s South Dakota Prep Media polls.

In the first Class 9B preseason poll, Avon took 10 of 16 first-place votes, with Canistota nabbing five and Faulkton Area garnering one. Canistota took a Week 1 loss to Class 9AA Viborg-Hurley, while Faulkton Area was idle.

Pierre was a preseason unanimous No. 1 pick in Class 11AA, making Avon the second team to achieve unanimous status in 2024.

Leading the charge for Avon in its 60-38 shootout win at Colman-Egan was running back Aziah Meyer. The 2023 Joe Robbie championship game MVP opened his senior season with eight total touchdowns and more than 300 all-purpose yards. Next up for the Pirates is an Aug. 30 trip to Sioux Falls Lutheran, which is fielding its first varsity roster in Class 9B this season.

Elsewhere in Class 9B, Canistota’s loss made way for three programs to move up. Faulkton Area, Corsica-Stickney and Dell Rapids St. Mary now slot in at Nos. 2-4, with the Hawks sliding to No. 5.

Corsica-Stickney opened the season with a 36-0 shutout at Hitchcock-Tulare, headlined by a combined 341 rushing yards from the backfield trio of Waylon Bolle, Tate Tolsma and Caden Baumiller. Meanwhile, Dell Rapids St. Mary rolled to a 38-0 home shutout of Oldham-Ramona-Rutland.

One of just two programs to crack the top five of their respective classes after one week (Viborg-Hurley in Class 9AA is the other), Wagner is the new No. 5 in Class 11B.

Paced by five rushing touchdowns by quarterback Gannon Knebel, the Red Raiders went on the road and took down Chamberlain 34-8 in Week 1. That result, coupled with No. 1-ranked Winner’s 36-0 shutout of No. 5 Hot Springs, opened up the path for Wagner to climb into the top five after receiving votes in the preseason.

After 17 total votes fell outside the top five in the preseason, just three remain on the outside looking in this week, as Beresford, Hot Springs and Mount Vernon/Plankinton all nabbed one vote.

Class 11B wasn’t the only class to see its ‘others receiving votes’ section decrease after just one week.

The phenomenon was most pronounced in Class 9A, where 32 total votes were cast for teams outside the top five in the preseason. That number plummeted to a single vote this week. Centerville, which was not one of the programs to receive a vote in the preseason, took the one extra vote. The Class 9A top five remained unchanged, while Alcester-Hudson, Platte-Geddes, Deubrook Area and Potter County fell off the ballot.

Class 9AA had 25 preseason votes for teams outside the top five, which dwindled to five this week — three for newcomer Hill City and two for Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy, which dropped out from the No. 5 spot.

Of the 23 votes outside the preseason top five in Class 9B, 17 remain this week, but Colman-Egan and Hitchcock-Tulare both fell off the ballot.

• [11AAA-1] Harrisburg at [11AAA-4] O’Gorman
• [11AAA-5] Sioux Falls Washington at [11AAA-3] Brandon Valley
• [11AA-4] at [11AAA-RV] Sioux Falls Jefferson
• [11AA-1] Pierre at [11AA-5] Aberdeen Central
• [11A-4] West Central at [11A-2] Sioux Falls Christian
• [11A-RV] Rapid City Christian at [11A-1] Canton
• [11A-RV] Dakota Valley at [11A-2] Dell Rapids
• [11B-5] Wagner at [11B-1] Winner
• [9AA-4] Hanson at [9AA-2] Hamlin
• [9AA-3] Elkton-Lake Benton at [9AA-5] Viborg-Hurley
• [9A-2] Wall at [9A-5] Harding County/Bison

The preseason South Dakota Prep Media football polls for the week of Aug. 26 are listed below, ranking the top-five teams in each class. First-place votes received are indicated in parentheses. (Note: The Class 11AAA, 11AA and 11A polls remain unchanged from the preseason edition.)

Class 11AAA
1. Harrisburg (9) 65; 2. Sioux Falls Lincoln (6) 61; 3. Brandon Valley 52; 4. O’Gorman (1) 38; 5. Sioux Falls Washington 15.
Others receiving votes: Sioux Falls Jefferson 9.

Class 11AA
1. Pierre (16) 80; 2. Yankton 59; 3. Tea Area 50; 4. Watertown 26; 5. Aberdeen Central 20.
Others receiving votes: Sturgis 5.

Class 11A
1. Canton (6) 56; T2. SF Christian (5) 52; T2. Dell Rapids (3) 52; 4. West Central (2) 34; 5. Lennox 23.
Others receiving votes: Rapid City Christian 16, Tri-Valley 4, Dakota Valley 3.

Class 11B
1. Winner (11), 1-0, 66; 2. Elk Point-Jefferson (2), 1-0, 58; 3. Sioux Valley (1), 1-0, 42; 4. Woonsocket/Wessington Springs/Sanborn Central, 1-0, 30; 5. Wagner, 1-0, 11.
Others receiving votes: Beresford 1, Hot Springs 1, Mount Vernon/Plankinton 1.

Class 9AA
1. Parkston (11), 1-0, 67; 2. Hamlin (3), 1-0, 58; 3. Elkton-Lake Benton, 1-0, 36; 4. Hanson, 1-0, 28; 5. Viborg-Hurley, 1-0, 16.
Others receiving votes: Hill City 3, Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy 2.

Class 9A
1. Howard (13), 1-0, 69; 2. Wall (1), 1-0, 50; 3. Warner, 1-0, 35; 4. Wolsey-Wessington, 1-0, 31; 5. Harding County/Bison, 1-0, 24.
Others receiving votes: Centerville 1.

Class 9B
1. Avon (14), 1-0, 70; 2. Faulkton Area, 0-0, 45; 3. Corsica-Stickney, 1-0, 41; 4. Dell Rapids St. Mary, 1-0, 24; 5. Canistota, 0-1, 13.
Others receiving votes: Sully Buttes 8, Kadoka Area 7, Herreid/Selby Area 2.

Dierks covers prep and collegiate athletics across the Mitchell Republic's coverage region area. His focus areas include: Mitchell High School football and boys basketball; area high school football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and track and field; and South Dakota State football. He is also at the forefront of the Mitchell Republic's podcasting efforts. Dierks is a Mitchell native who graduated from South Dakota State University with his bachelor's degree in journalism in May 2020. He joined the Mitchell Republic sports staff in August 2021. He can be reached at ldierks@mitchellrepublic.com and found on Twitter at @LDierksy.